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Don’t Go In, For The Love Of God – Please Don’t Go In
Addit- 03/04/2014 08:42 AM
- 16543 views
A Game Made By: Isrieri
Including The Assistance Of:
kentona, halibabica, Davenport, Desmo360, Solitayre, Ratty524, Otabo, nin8halos, pyrodoom, Farlon303,
seiromem, jackalotrun, DarklordKeinor, masterofmayhem, apa649 & Blobofgoo
Created Using: Super Mario Bros. X
It's A: PLATFORMER Game
That Roughly Takes Around: 5 - 8 Hours To Complete
And It's A... COMPLETED GAME!!!
This seems to be that one game in the entire RMN library that has been pushing for somebody brave enough – hell, even stupid enough – to take the plunge in and review something that has been pestered by the creators from this game for quite some time now. And that mighty plunge happens to be another entry into the community fanmade Super Mario Bros. X games simply known as Castles – Masterpiece Set. The sound of that very word from those who have ventured into the hollowed, greyish castle is bound to bring back a couple of unsettling nightmares to some – lemme assure you! But despite having a substantial amount of downloads (…okay, it’s not really a lot, I mean, 600+ is almost laughable by comparison to today’s standards here. But, hey – it could be worse) and with even more tons of subsequent entries into the series – I am surprised that this game hasn’t been reviewed as of yet. Well…it looks like it’s up to me to finally solve this mystery, and…
(…Damn you, Corfaisus, you and your quick trigger fingers!)
*sigh* …Let’s just get this over with and review this game already, so I can get back to doing more important things like buttering my bread…! *whines*
The Story
Hmmm…
If you’re looking for a plot for this game, you won’t find one here. But if you’re the type of person that needs some sort of incentive to know what’s really going on – this is pretty much the whole story in a nutshell:
Mario: This is it, Luigi!
Luigi: …Spaghetti!
“…And thus, Mario and Luigi then entered the treacherous Fortress Of Solitude in hopes of finding precious, delicious homemade Italian spaghetti for Luigi, and even more golden coins for Mario…and I think there’s a princess somewhere inside, I dunno.”
Yeah…it’s a Mario game. What did you expect?
The Gameplay
- Easy…! Easy…!!!
Once again, for anybody that is familiar with any of the classic Mario platformers in the past or have even played some of the other Super Mario Bros. X engine inspired games here, you’ll feel right at home here. And if you haven’t played a classic Mario game before – then why are you even reading this review in the first place??? Either way, please don’t let this be your first.
Basically so, you have a total of thirty-two different levels in the castle (if you count the prologue level as well) as you try to find the power stars at the end of each level in order to unlock the final gruelling challenge and get that 100 % completion. Easy as pie, right? Well, um…how should I put this without really offending anybody…
- THIS GAME IS F***ING HARRRRRRDDDDDDDDD!!!
F***!!!
F***!!!
Seriously, for anybody who is even thinking that they’re just going to waltz in, bust up some bad guys and do some innocent platforming on the side – you are seriously living in a dream world. This game can be absolutely BRUTAL if you’re not a seasonal Mario veteran or least coming in with a USB controller in hand (not to mention bringing in a couple of additional extra lives wouldn’t hurt as well). Lemme explain:
Although this game isn’t quite as impossible as I make it out to seem, as all of these levels can be beaten with a little bit of memorization, patience, and skill, this game WILL kick your butt and then laugh straight into your face as you see poor little Mario and Luigi tumble into the abyss and whatever shred of manhood you have left into It. The main issue here is that a lot of these levels feel like they’re a bit unfair to the player overall, even some of the earlier ones pose a lot of problems that you would usually see towards the end levels of the game. There are too many instances with bad enemy placements that seem to get you in the right spots; too many high risk jumps that require absolute - almost perfect - precision jumping on your part; not enough powerup’s or checkpoints throughout the stage that makes a lot of these levels seem like you can’t make a single mistake at all, not to mention various glitches or even some instances where certain characters can’t even complete certain levels on their own; it just seems like an overwhelming amount of frustration every time something unfair like this happens – AND IT WILL HAPPEN A LOT. And I can finally now understand why this game doesn’t have too many reviews for it: because it can be quite disastrously and damaging for one’s own self being. And if you want any proof of that, just try to get past that final level and you’ll understand why.
But a nice challenge can be a healthy challenge, and I can definitely see a bit of merit for someone playing these uber-hard levels, especially if you’re the type of the person that likes a personal challenge like this, or is just feeling plain suicidal. But most casual Mario players will probably find themselves rage quitting quicker than you can say “Mama-Mia.” This game is definitely one of the hardest games I’ve played here on RMN, and that’s no lie.
And although some of the levels found later on are quite fair and balanced, they seem to be rather far apart compared to the rest of the sinister stages that are in this game. I’m glad that over time that more levels like the ones that I enjoyed the most, like any of nin8halos levels, Albino’s Arena, Palace Of Frozen Daggers, Sky Temple and even Funklen’s Tomb became more of the bench setters for future community projects, so it’s nice to see just how far everyone has come along since then. But with only a small fraction of these enjoyable levels compared to the overwhelming frustrating ones, it’s just not enough in my eyes. Even 99 lives may not be enough to get out of this castle alive.
The Soundtrack
- WEEEEEEEEEE!!!
This might come as a bit of a shock to you, but this game – yes, this game – features nothing but mostly Mario tunes and classic sound effects from those games – oh noes, THE HORROR!!!
Just kidding. Luckily, a lot of the tunes used here from the Mario series are various remixes and arrangements that do sound pretty good and do fit the themes for most of levels used here rather quite well. There are even a lot of songs borrowed here from many other popular Nintendo games, such as Mega Man, The Secret Of Mana, and even the Legend Of Zelda series. I’m not saying that this is a fantastic soundtrack (as I do feel a bit more originality in the tunes would have helped a little more with maybe a slight diversity in the tracks used), but it suites this type of game so it’s generally accepted in my eyes. The sound effects are basically what comes standard with the engine, so nothing really noteworthy here.
The Aesthetics
Some of the levels here are quite visually stunning.
This part of the spectrum depends on the levels themselves. I found some of the levels to be quite pleasant looking, not just with the scenery in the background but also with the usage of the tilesets used, while some of the stages seemed like the backgrounds blended in too much with the tilesets making some parts of the backdrops look a platform that you can jump on but not really a platform that you can jump on, resulting in even more frustration and many more deaths. Compared to some of the earlier Super Mario Bros. X community games, this one definitely is nice step up compared to those other games. By no means does every level look like a masterpiece, but a few of them do look quite nice and could actually mesh well in an actual Mario platformer.
The End Result
The door won’t open…
- THE DOOR WON’T OPEN!!!
Castles – Masterpiece Set is by no means a terribly executed game, as some of the levels here can be quite enjoyable and even the challenge factor alone can drive some people to enjoy this game, but there is no denying just how cheap and unbelievably unfair some of these levels are designed to be. Although beatable, by the time when the player has even remotely beaten this game by the skin of their teeth, whatever satisfaction that they once had quickly turns to remorse (and that final level doesn’t help much either). This almost reminded me of a collective science fair project that looked so promising on paper but was poorly executed in the end and was just rushed to completion as quickly as possible to leave behind a soggy mess of loosely based chemicals and bathroom tissues.
Mario games have that fine line between complete utter balance and being just beyond brutal; you want to have the right mix for your levels when tackling something as methodical as Mario. Having too much of one thing can either make the experience either too easy or just beyond insane. This is one example of a Mario game that’s just beyond insane. But I like to think that without this game some of the more prominent community Mario fangames, like my favorite one of the bunch, Super RMN World (still supposedly the best Super RMN Bros. game to date), would not be possible without first realizing and correcting the mistakes of the past. So in some ways, this was a small sacrifice that lead to much greater and better things.
I’m going to recommend this game only for the serious hardcore Mario veterans or if you’re just somebody who is looking for a collective itch to scratch. For everybody else out there that’s still possibly on the fence with this one, this is probably one game you should skip in favor of the other community Mario games. But if you’re feeling quite suicidal – then I won’t stop you from trying.
OVERALL GRADE:
1.5 / 5 - D ~ Proceed With EXTREME Caution.
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Closeauthor=Addit
Jesus…! I guess I’m not as good of a Mario player as you are, bud.
I guess I'm not the only one whose judgement of what's difficult and what isn't is completely jaded. Other than about three levels this game wasn't that hard for me (HINT: Hold the "run" button always and give no shits. Always works for me when I play SMBX games for some reason).
author=kentona
What did you think of my level? that's all I care about #selfish
Honestly, I can’t really remember too much about your level, Kentona. I think I remember that it wasn’t all too bad in terms of difficulty (as I think I died only about once there), but it certainly wasn’t as memorable compared to some of the other levels in the game. So, in other words, “Meh.”
Really? I found Kentona's level to be the most true to how castles are designed in SMW. There also aren't that many levels here with the fence-climbing gimmick, at least not in a sense where the entire level revolves around it. So I did find his level unique at least.
Addit
6394
Keep in mind that I played his level on a weekend when it was around two o'clock in the morning, so that’s probably mainly why I don’t remember too much about it (or anything else, for that matter).
I'm surprised people are complaining about Mouser so much (Not that I blame you there both asses) but no mention about my bower boss fight which every hated when the game was first released. Wired.
Now since I don't want this post to be all about me, Castle Crashes was alright and Isrieri is some kind of SMBX deity so what his opinion about whats easy doesn't count.
Now since I don't want this post to be all about me, Castle Crashes was alright and Isrieri is some kind of SMBX deity so what his opinion about whats easy doesn't count.
Addit
6394
That Bowser fight was actually pretty easy once you got the hang of it. At least all I had to do there was avoid fireballs and flying Koopa Troopas compared to the Mouser boss in the Desert Palace where you had to avoid all kinds of wacky things.
Davenport
5200
I'm always in it for the makerscore and the fun of making levels of course.
This project had an awesome theme.
This project had an awesome theme.
nin8halos
4375
author=kentona
What did you think of my level? that's all I care about #selfish
I find it disturbing that neither of these reviews mention my levels at all.
author=nin8halosI'm pretty sure the review mentioned that he likes all your levels.author=kentonaI find it disturbing that neither of these reviews mention my levels at all.
What did you think of my level? that's all I care about #selfish
nin8halos
4375
author=masterofmayhemauthor=nin8halosI'm pretty sure the review mentioned that he likes all your levels.author=kentonaI find it disturbing that neither of these reviews mention my levels at all.
What did you think of my level? that's all I care about #selfish
Ah there it is. I completely missed that.
Addit
6394
Yeah, nin8halos, your levels were like the best ones here. You always make good levels in all the community SMBX games that I’ve played thus far.
At least on paper it did.
Just a quick question, have any of you guys considered maybe making a Castles – Masterpiece Set Second Edition? Maybe once you guys wrap up The Last King Of Hyrule SMBX event and your *cough* secret project *cough*, maybe you guys could try your hand at tackling a sequel to this? I’m sure you guys could do a million times better than what you did here.
author=Davenport
This project had an awesome theme.
At least on paper it did.
Just a quick question, have any of you guys considered maybe making a Castles – Masterpiece Set Second Edition? Maybe once you guys wrap up The Last King Of Hyrule SMBX event and your *cough* secret project *cough*, maybe you guys could try your hand at tackling a sequel to this? I’m sure you guys could do a million times better than what you did here.
author=Addit
I would if I could use SMBX and I wasn’t busy with all this other RPG Makers stuff. >_<
SMBX is pretty easy to pick up, it's just somewhat annoying to use at times.
author=seiromemI am pretty sure that this event started as a forum thing and I said to Isri "hey wanna make this into a legit event?"
I would if I was a trusted member of RMN.
I may be misremembering, but the point is ANYONE can make and run an event if they want to. I am a pretty supportive guy.
author=seiromemThat's what I do when I am thinking about running an event and gaging interest! (and then I sticky it as Important! because I can ;)
Well, when you put it like that I do have some ideas.
Should I make a topic or something?
author=seiromemYep. You can try making a topic or a status to gauge people's interest, and then discuss it with kentona and the staff. That's how the Pokeymans thing started.
Well, when you put it like that I do have some ideas.
Should I make a topic or something?
nin8halos
4375
I'd participate in another Castles project. So go guaugeug people's interest and I'll hop on.
nin8halos
4375
author=halibabica
Just don't plan it for June.
Oh God I've said too much.
Is that when the Mario X Street Fighter project begins? Or is it the Citizen Kane project?
